The Stars Will Cradle You
by ArchFaith
Summary: Directly after the duel on Cloud City, Luke ponders over Vader's powerful revelation as Leia becomes the muchneeded comfort that will give him rest. Exactly why the two feel so comfortable with each other is another matter altogether.


Note: All Star Wars elements belong to Lucasfilm. I own nothing.

Timeline notice: This story takes place directly after the events of _The Empire Strikes Back_.

The Stars Will Cradle You

by ArchFaith

The small cabin was bare and Spartan in its decoration; save for a small grey dresser, a narrow military bed, and a window on the far end, it was unimpressive and generic. Luxury was a word unheard of in the Rebel Alliance; its members were quite used to the sparseness and difficulty of their daily lives, and this was reflected in all aspects of their organization.

The room was darkened; the only light present came from that of the distant stars in the small window, pinpoints of light in the vacuum of space. Nothing stirred; all was still and quiet. It was a late hour; most of the personnel on the medical ship had gone to sleep, save those who needed to look after injured fighters. Rest—as much rest as they would be able to get. But there was never enough rest. One day of relaxation would be followed by a month of running and hiding.

_Let me sleep forever. Let me go back to Tatooine, before I knew about the Rebellion and the Empire._

But, he reminded himself, there was no use in wishing for things that could not come to pass. Try as he might, he could not unlearn what he knew; and even if he could turn back the flow of time, would he? Trade endless Rebel sieges for the staid life of a moisture farmer? But a simple life did offer comforts; ignorance could be an advantage.

Luke Skywalker had not been blessed with ignorance.

Sighing, he drew the thick comforter tighter around his body. The coldness of the large medical ship sent a small shiver down his spine. There were many people aboard this ship; as one of the largest in the fleet, it operated only with the supervision of thousands of officers and engineers.

_How can there be so many…and how can I feel so alone?_

He turned over, trying to tell himself that his ideas were foolish; it was no use thinking about the past now. What was done was done; regret was only a part of human nature. But had he done the right thing? By disobeying Yoda and leaving Dagobah before his proper training had been completed, what had he accomplished? What had he gained?

An artificial right hand, the capture of one of his closest friends, and the terrible knowledge Vader had so graciously bestowed upon him.

_You failed, _he told himself. _You should have stayed on Tatooine, farmboy._

The door to his room gently slid open; startled, Luke propped himself up, ready to defend himself with his bare hands if need be. "Who's there?" he cried out harshly, glaring into the darkness. "Show yourself!"

The figure at the door drew back slightly; then, with a cautious step, entered the room. Through the pale starlight he could make out a rather short figure, slender and lithe; a young woman dressed in a thin white chemise, her thick brown hair tumbling down her back. She slowly moved towards him, clasping her hands together as he sighed in relief.

"You startled me, Leia."

She cocked her head as she moved closer to the bed, her liquid brown eyes betraying concern. "I'm sorry, Luke," she said simply. "But I didn't think you were sleeping."

_How would she have known that? _he asked himself, in a moment of quick reflection. "Well, you're right," he answered. He smiled, sadly. "Intuition?"

"Maybe. Something like that," she answered, returning his smile with a small one of her own. She nodded to his bed. "Can I sit down? I should have had Threepio bring a chair…"

He did not know what it was that came over him; a sudden feeling of affection stirred inside him; an awkward, possessive feeling. He could do nothing with it except act upon it; in a moment he slid his slender frame over to the other side of the bed, to the side nearest the wall. He quickly threw the warm comforter back from his body, and patted the empty space next to him. "I can do you one better."

She raised her eyebrows at his offer. "Are you serious?" she asked, in an incredulous tone. "Luke, I—"

He shook his head. "Just a suggestion." A slight hint of embarrassment crept into his voice. "Don't take it the wrong way."

"I won't," she answered. To his surprise, she came over to the bed and slid herself down next to him, lifting her small feet up onto the narrow mattress. Her body was warm and soft; the strands of her long brown hair brushed against his bare shoulder, causing him to shiver with a sudden caution.

She laid her delicate head down onto the long pillow as he sat up, retrieving the comforter. She allowed him to tuck the blanket around both of them; his hand gently brushed her arm, and she felt a strange feeling well up inside her. They had never been this close to each other before, physically—aside from playful nudges and the occasional embrace, they never really touched each other. This was…something different. Good or bad, it remained to be seen.

She instinctively reached out, her pale fingers brushing against his tanned cheek. He looked back to her, surprised, before returning her touch with by brushing a few stray hairs out of her face. She smiled momentarily, but her expression disappeared within a few seconds.

"Luke…please don't think I came here to start something," she said, looking over to him. "I don't want you to get the wrong impression."

He drummed his fingers against her smooth arm. "That was my first thought," he admitted. "I thought that maybe you needed a replacement for Han."

The words stung her, echoed through her mind as she scowled. "Do you think I'm that unstable?" she demanded.

"I guess not," he answered, frowning. "But at least I'm honest."

She sighed in exasperation. "Alright…I guess this is a bit…misleading. But I came in here to talk to you."

The sudden protective feeling stirred inside him once again; in a moment, he had wrapped his arm around her, his muscular arm encircling her slender shoulders. "Luke?" she questioned. "What are you doing?"

He was tired of all her questions; he could not explain what compelled him to act, and it was clear that neither could she. "Rest, Leia," he commanded gently, placing his other arm around her. He gently pulled her closer, nestling her wavy brown head against his chest. "Just relax, will you?"

She was about to struggle out of his arms when she felt her body suddenly go limp. His touch was gentle, and kind; he would not hurt her, or try any kind of lewd act against her. To leave now, when it was she who had sought him out, would be extremely rude and ungracious. Besides…she found herself wanting to stay.

"Alright," she agreed with some reluctance. Letting her body relax, she absently placed her hand on Luke's chest, her fingers drumming against the thin fabric of his loose shirt. "I'm going to be honest with you," she began. "I haven't been in bed with a man since…I don't know, five years ago. Not since I was still a girl on Alderaan, having fun with the boys before I wised up." She closed her eyes. "I guess I'm just not used to it anymore."

His fingers smoothed her long brown hair against her head. "_You're_ not used to it?" he replied sarcastically. "I don't think I've ever had a woman sleep in the same bed as me. Unless you count me creeping into my aunt and uncle's bed when I was a kid."

"Ever the farmboy," she chuckled. "That'll change one day."

"It's changed already," he answered, without missing a beat. "Tell me, Leia…why are you here?"

For a few moments she collected her thoughts, carefully picking her words before she chose to speak. "Luke…are you frightened?"

He wasted no time in answering her. "Of course…isn't everyone? The Rebellion, the Empire, ordinary people throughout the galaxy…who isn't frightened? If not even my aunt and uncle on Tatooine were safe, who is?"

His mature response sent a shiver through her body; so he was no longer the same Luke she had always known. Truly, wherever he had gone and whatever he had done during the last few weeks had greatly changed him; he did not talk much of it. She knew that he had gone to the remote swampy planet of Dagobah, and that he had briefly trained with an aged Jedi Master there. Other than these few scant facts, she knew nothing else; she did not press him on it. Her only hope was that he would one day think to tell her.

The same with his battle with Darth Vader; why had Vader been searching for him? Why had he been so shaken and disturbed, refusing to talk at all about the duel that had taken his right hand?

"Why do you ask?" he questioned, looking into her contemplating eyes.

"No particular reason," she answered. "I just wanted to know. You know…you're very important to me." She blinked, then looked back up into his azure blue eyes. "You've been so quiet ever since we left Cloud City…"

Her voice trailed, then with some confidence she continued. "You are one of the only people I can call 'friend', Luke…you know that I care deeply for you."

He nodded. "I know…and I the same for you."

She sighed, her eyes narrowing in exhaustion as she laid her head back against the soft pillow. "We're just two lonely people trying to escape our fears, aren't we?"

He smiled sadly. "Some heroes we turned out to be."

Heroes shivering together, trying to find warmth amongst the darkness of space as their future lay, time shimmering in violent waves as the conflicts of the galaxy raged on and on and on, never to end. He grimaced as the idea ran through his head.

"Luke?" Her voice now rose in a cautious whisper. "I know you went to Dagobah to train with that Jedi Master…is it true about your father, then? Was he a great Jedi like Obi-Wan Kenobi?"

He closed his eyes, bracing his teeth as he turned his face away from her. "Don't ask me about my father, Leia."

She frowned; she did not think he would be so guarded in talking about his father now. She remembered days when he was animated, talking and wondering about his father's supposed exploits during the Clone Wars, and his death at the hands of Darth Vader. He had seemed so proud then; his eyes would gleam with the possibilities of his father's heroic lifestyle, a heritage full of adventure and life. And now…this silence. What had come over him?

"Your father's name was Anakin, wasn't it?" she asked, quite forgetting that she been aiming to let the matter go. As soon as she uttered the name a quick surprise shot into her; where had she learned this knowledge? She never even heard the name before in her life before she uttered it…

Luke looked over at her, his eyebrows furrowing. "Anakin?" he repeated. "I don't exactly know what my father's name was…" He looked over at her, a serious expression upon his face. "Where did you find this out?"

She shook her head in embarrassment. "This is going to sound crazy, but…I don't know. I just…I just knew it somehow." A thin blush rose to her cheeks as she tried to reason her way out of the awkward revelation. "Maybe I heard it in a report or something when I was a child…my parents used to talk of a man with a last name similar sounding to yours—Skywalker, I'm sure of it. I just remembered the first name they used for him…he could be the one."

Luke sighed, wishing that all mention of his father could be wiped out from the records of the universe. "Maybe," he gruffly replied. "It's hard to tell." With a sudden wish to talk of more civil matters, he decided to turn the conversation towards a topic that he had been intriguing him for some time. "Leia...you're not an Organa by birth, are you?"

She shook her head. "No…I was raised an Organa, but I am not of their blood." She closed her eyes. "When I was younger it made me sad to think about it."

"When did you find out you were adopted?"

"Oh, when I was young…young enough that no permanent damage could be inflicted. I heard some of the palace children whispering about it, so I ran to my parents. They didn't keep the truth from me…they told me."

"And where were your real parents from?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. The only thing they told me is that I was found aboard an abandoned ship, stationed on the asteroid Polis Massa. The rest of the crew—my birth mother included—were found dead, probably of some disease."

He nodded. "I'm sorry, Leia."

"Don't be…it happened so long ago," she wistfully replied. "I haven't thought about that in a while."

He nodded; she was so freely able to talk about her real parentage. It was a privilege he would never enjoy. To admit to her that his father—the shadowed figure he had idolized as a child, the brave character of his dreams—was…was…

"Leia…you'll stay here tonight?" his voice, though firm and questioning, held the slightest hint of supplication.

"Yes," she replied—in truth, she had no thought of leaving anyway. "If that's alright with you." She yawned—it was high time to get some rest.

He nodded. "I'd like that," he admitted. Wordlessly she pulled herself closer to him, resting her brown-haired head against the crook of his neck; his arm, still wrapped around her waist, tightened against her body. He felt protective of her, suddenly, felt a little more of that heroic feeling welling up inside him once again. She needed protection; and since Han was gone, he would give it to her.

Only until Han came back, that was.

He let himself relax, laid his blonde head down against the pillow, his body close against Leia's limp form. She was already half-asleep; her eyes fluttered gently as he shifted next to her, causing her to moan slightly in annoyance. His hand quickly sought her own; finding it, he gave her a reassuring squeeze.

"Padme," she whispered suddenly, sighing as she drifted back to sleep. "P—Padme…"

He briefly wondered what kind of word she was talking about before drifting off into his own slumber.

The room resumed its quiet stillness—the only sound audible being the quiet breathing of the bed's inhabitants. The stars twinkled against the backdrop of black—stars distant, yet teeming with the possibilities of the future.

_The stars will cradle you. _

The End

Note: Alright, I'm not a Luke/Leia shipper…of course I go with the canon and love Han/Leia, but I also love the dynamic between Luke and Leia…being brother and sister, it's obvious that they were attracted to each other but couldn't do anything about it! So I decided to write a fanfic exploring a moment that might have happened in the course of their lives together…I needed to get Han outta the way though, so he's conveniently in carbonite for this, hehe. Hoped you liked my story, please leave some comments and constructive criticism…I'm a Star Wars geek till the very end. Long live the Alliance!! 


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